Brian Kendrick Talks Finding Out About Chris Benoit Tragedy, TNA Rejecting Idea, Paul London, More
Journey of a Frontman has an interview with former WWE and TNA star Brian Kendrick. Here are some highlights:
Paul London:
"In the ring, we compliment each other. We wrestle pretty similar and have the same idea of what wrestling should be. Outside of the ring, he just makes me laugh. He's a funny guy. We're real good friends outside of wrestling. He just makes me laugh hysterically and has a great sense of humor."
The week of the news surrounding Chris Benoit:
"First of all, the day we found out that Chris Benoit died was the day we were having a funeral for Vince McMahon. It was supposed to be a tribute to Vince McMahon. It seemed more eerie to me after the fact. The timing of it, the memorial show for Vince McMahon. The murders happened a day or two before and we found out that day. It's kind of funny timing. The moment we found out, it stuck with me. It's a day I remember, finding out about it.
"Everybody there was already wearing funeral clothes, because of the Vince McMahon storyline, when we found out. People split before they found out the actual news of what happened with Chris Benoit. Everybody was free to go an hour or so after we found out. So people took off. I thought right away that it was a murder. That's what you hear, the father's going crazy, killing their families. It's not the first time that that's happened, I would think. When it actually came out, it's still shocking because you knew the guy. But I would have been far more shocked if it was anything else, like if somebody would have broken in and murdered his family.
"I didn't have to go back to work for a week. And so I don't know what the field was like for the office. Back home for me, it was just a regular week. I would imagine they'd be s–tting their pants. I would. But I would have done the same thing, done a tribute show right away because it would have made sense. But it also occurred to me that he probably killed his family. That was the first thing that occurred to me."
WWE Backstage going from TV-14 to TV-PG:
"I don't remember anything specific. I don't remember an official meeting or anything where, 'This is the day you come in and can't do this, this, this, or this.' But things had kind of went that way anyways, as far as going clean. They hadn't really used blood in quite some time. They couldn't swear. The big things became don't hit your opponent in the head with chairs and choking type stuff because of the Benoit thing."
Wanting to do a Kurt Cobain gimmick in TNA:
"It's something I've pitched before. They didn't go for it. But I would have been fine with it. I'm from the Washington state area, so dressing poorly becomes pretty natural for me too. I would have a valet and be some sort of artistic genius, be to myself, and then be taken advantage by my valet. Getting whored out by your Courtney Love. That would be the idea."
The Brian Kendrick:
"I had more than I guess I could have expected. I got to pitch the idea of having a singles character and they helped me with it. It came off the ground for me. The look, the attitude, a lot of that stuff was me."
Cats wrestling:
"One can only hope! I don't know if I'm ever gonna have any actual cats wrestle. I do have a friend, Teddy Hart, who actually might do it. He has trained cats and makes them do backflips. I would hopefully like to do something where there are people dressed as cats wrestling though against dogs, against mailmen, against aliens. I would like to do that as a live show. Right now, it's just animation. I don't know if I'll ever have the energy or the courage to really turn that into a live show. But someday, that would be an idea, to have humans dressed up as different animals pretending to fight."
Being on "The Price Is Right":
"It was awesome. I got to spin the wheel. Who wouldn't wanna do that? It was really cool, out of the blue. It was a long wait to get there, as far as when you show up to go do Price Is Right. It's five hours before the show starts, so it's a long day. But at the end of the day, I got to spin the wheel, so it was worth it. I won a giant popcorn maker, like a big f–kin' one, it was a $3,000 popcorn maker. No space for it, no need for it. So we gave it to the local Venice Boys and Girls Club City Commerce people. TNA had no idea. They had no idea until it aired on TV."
Kendrick also discussed streaking on SmackDown, wanting to use "My Heart Will Go On" as his theme, botched Royal Rumble spot with Triple H, TNA and more. You can check out the full interview by clicking here.
Source: Journey of a Frontman